Linger

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2

In Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. 

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love—the light and the dark, the warm and the cold—in a way you will never forget. 

At the end of Shiver, Sam and Grace got their wish for Sam's cure to work. Now however, they have new problems. Turns up his cure wouldn't instantly solve everything. Sam is having a hard time truly believing in his cure and the ability to have a future, so he is basically stuck in limbo. Grace on the other hand is ecstatic, but has problems she must come to terms with herself. Her parents decided to step in after being "absent" for as long as she can remember. She's also hiding a terrible secret, one that could rip apart everything she and Sam have worked for. Meanwhile, Isabel is still broken inside from her brother's death and finds herself drawn to Cole, who may just be more broken than she is.

The relationship between Grace and Sam didn't have the same dynamic or impact as is did before. Perhaps that is because of all the issues they were facing, which is understandable, but I found myself missing it all the same. I did enjoy the budding relationship, if you could call it that, between Cole and Isabel. I'm glad they didn't just fall instantly with each other, as that would not have worked well with the amount of "damage" they are both carrying. Perhaps in the future they will be able to overcome their own turmoils together, but I have a feeling that is going to be a very bumpy road.

Grace's parents absolutely infuriated me in this book, in fact I feel their behavior really detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book. Now, as I am a mother myself, I can say that the "incident" that spurns their behavior would greatly upset me, but I also do not and will never have the same type of relationship with my children as they have with Grace. Their parenting skills can be called nothing short of neglect, and were very lucky that Grace turned out as responsible as she did. In fact, her mother actually has a huge problem with her analytical nature as Grace is not a scatterbrain like her. Both of them gave up the rights to her life a very long time ago when they left her alone to raise herself. As it is, Grace was constantly taking care of her mother, when it should be the other way around. It just angers me that they would try and take away the one person who has shown her true love and compassion in her life. I can only hope that a miracle happens in the next book and they get a clue, or just get out of the way.

After reading Shiver, I had high expectations for this book, however it really fell flat for me. I'm not saying it wasn't a good book, just no where near Shiver's excellence. The problem with her parents made me too angry to fully enjoy the book. There also wasn't a real clear cut plot other than Sam trying to come to terms with his new found life, and Grace hiding a terrible secret. Even though I prefer Sam and Grace's characters, both Cole and Isabel's inner conflicts added a new dimension to the story. However the rotating perspectives was a little harder to follow this time as the changes were much more frequent than the last book. While the ending of Shiver was abrupt, it still left me smiling. This one, however was even more abrupt, yet did not leave me with the same happiness at all. I'm really hoping the next book will be more like Shiver as I love these characters. Overall, it was just an okay read for me, but definitely worth reading if you enjoyed the first one.

Rating:

Buy now at Amazon:
Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls, Book 2)

Challenge Categories:
Outdo Yourself
YA 
Shifter